In case you missed it last week, The Silver Lining is a new weekly column exclusively on OnlyGators.com that combines news, opinion and entertainment. The format may change as the concept develops, and suggestions are both respected and appreciated.

Walker, who originally transferred due to playing time concerns, wound up making seven starts and playing in 35 games last year as his teammates dealt with injuries and suspensions. His energy and defense were bright spots – as was his three-point shooting on occasion (he drained 8-of-14 threes over a five-game stretch in league play) – but Walker still averaged just 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game.

It is for that reason that his injury does not strike a major blow for Florida basketball. The Gators will get along fine without Walker next season. Junior Michael Frazier II will start at shooting guard, and five-star freshman Devin Robinson has a great shot to play major minutes at small forward with redshirt junior Alex Murphy currently not cleared to play until the spring semester (pending an NCAA waiver).

Nevertheless, it is interesting that Walker’s serious injury – which a UF spokesman eventually confirmed to OnlyGators.com on Monday – has not even been mentioned publicly by the university. Walker may only be a role player but he is a scholarship student-athlete in a major sport and had an impact on the team last season.

1 » The SEC Network launches in less than a month, and former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow is signed on to be a featured analyst on the channel. While Tebow, by all accounts, is prepared for his new gig, he has certainly not given up on his desire to play in the NFL this season. According to a report from FOX 10 out of Phoenix, Arizona, Tebow has been spending plenty of time in Scottsdale training with Ian Danney in the scorching sun. The video clip below shows Tebow playing Danney-ball, a game in which players toss a 10-pound heavy ball over a net on a sand volleyball court.

In other Tebow news… A new poll has Tebow out of the top 10 when ranking the most popular athletes in the nation; he came in No. 8 just year ago while prepared to enter training camp with his third NFL team. Tebow is also prepared to open his third PDQ restaurant chain, this one at the Oakleaf Town Center in Jacksonville, Florida. He has already cut the ribbon at one location in Ocala and has plans to open another in Gainesville in the next six months.

Former Florida Gators forward Chandler Parsons hoped the Houston Rockets would not match the three-year, $46 million offer sheet handed to him by the Dallas Mavericks last week and eventually got his wish on Sunday.

A source told OnlyGators.comexactly that on Wednesday evening before Parsons signed the offer sheet, which Dallas owner Mark Cuban flew down to deliver to Parsons personally early Thursday morning, and reiterated it Sunday afternoon while the player was waiting on Houston’s decision.

Not only did Parsons believe that the Mavericks were the perfect landing spot for him and a great place to continue his career, he revealed to Yahoo! Sports on Monday that he was not pleased with how the Rockets viewed him as a player and handled the situation.

Instead of valuing Parsons as a rising star and picking up a team option on his contract, one that would have kept him in the fold for $964,750 in 2014-15, Houston let the option expire and allowed him to become a restricted free agent. This after he averaged career-highs of 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game last year

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey made this roster decision specifically to free up salary cap space in order to chase a bigger name, such as Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh, a notion he made quite public.

And while the move resulted in Parsons being able to earn substantially more money a full year sooner than he otherwise would have been eligible, it also told him that Houston did not value him as an important building block for its franchise.

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1 » According to multiple reports Sunday afternoon, 10-year NBA veteran F Matt Bonner will re-sign with the San Antonio Spurs. Bonner, who made nearly $4 million in 2013-14 – the final season of a four-year, $13.9 million contract he signed back in 2010 – will play his ninth-straight campaign with San Antonio once terms of the deal are finalized. On Saturday, Bonner was in his native Concord, New Hampshire; he brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy home to Rundlett Middle School for his annual summer basketball camp. “It means a lot to me to bring the trophy here to Concord,” Bonner told the Concord Monitor. “it’s very symbolic. I literally grew up a block from [Rundlett], right down on South Street. So now, at the age of 34, to have the NBA Championship trophy come here, it kind of brings it all full circle.”

2 » Former Florida Gators center Patric Young has played well thus far in a pair of NBA Summer League games with the New Orleans Pelicans in Las Vegas, Nevada. Coming off the bench in his first game on Friday, Young scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting with 13 rebounds in 19 minutes but did cough up three turnovers. On Sunday, Young earned a start at power forward, finishing +25 after playing a team-high 29 minutes. He was 5-for-6 from the field, scoring 10 points with six boars, a block and only one turnover. Neither point guard Scottie Wilbekin (Philadelphia 76ers) nor F Erik Murphy (Utah Jazz) impressed in their debuts. Forward Casey Prather did not see the court with the Atlanta Hawks in his first game but chipped in four points on 2-of-4 shooting with a rebound, two steals and a block in 20 minutes on Sunday.

Former Florida Gators forward Chandler Parsons will be headed 240 miles north within the state of Texas to play for the Dallas Mavericks after the Houston Rockets on Sunday declined to match the restricted free agent’s three-year, $46 million offer sheet, a source confirmed to OnlyGators.com.

Before free agency began, Houston decided not to pick up a one-year team option on Parsons for $964,750 in order to clear cap space and pursue a big-name free agent, knowing it would have to match a larger deal to bring him back into the fold.

The Rockets, however, hoped to acquire another player that would put the team in championship contention before using the Bird rights exemption to go over the salary cap and bring back Parsons at a higher salary.

Instead, Houston struck out in free agency and Parsons found an owner in Dallas’ Mark Cuban who desperately wanted his services, so much so that Cuban gave Parsons a contract offer that will likely make him one of the top-25 highest-paid players in the NBA.

OnlyGators.comexclusively reported Wednesday evening that Cuban was en route to Florida to meet with Parsons first thing Thursday morning. The two signed Parsons’s offer sheet at a club, celebrating together after reaching an agreement.

A source told OnlyGators.com on Thursday that Parsons preferred to continue his career with the Mavericks and hoped the Rockets did not match the offer sheet.

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1 » With LeBron James’s decision to return to Cleveland now made, the reverberations will be felt throughout the NBA with two former Florida Gators players likely to be immediately affected. Forward Chandler Parsons, a Houston Rockets restricted free agent who signed a three-year, $46 million offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, now looks to be headed back to Houston. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Rockets now plan to match the Mavericks’ offer sheet. Houston must first compete trades to open up the necessary cap space to sign Chris Bosh; once Bosh has inked his deal, the Rockets can reacquire Parsons by using his Bird rights. A source told OnlyGators.com on Wednesday evening that Parsons preferred to continue his career in Dallas, though that same source told OnlyGators.com on Friday that Parsons is now very excited about the opportunity to play in a “Big Four” in Houston.

Update: Friday evening, Bosh spurned the Rockets and decided to remain with the Heat on a five-year, $118 million contract. How this affects Houston’s desire to match Parsons’s offer sheet with Dallas remains to be seen, though doing so would certainly eat into the Rockets’ potential 2015-16 cap space. Additionally, Parsons’s sheet includes an opt-out after year two as well as a 15 percent trade kicker.

2 » Also affected by James is F Mike Miller, who originally hoped to return to the Memphis Grizzlies to conclude his career. According to Wojnarowski, James reached out to Miller this week about potentially joining him in Cleveland. Miller is currently in negotiations with Memphis and the Denver Nuggets with teams like Oklahoma City also extremely interested in his services. He is seeking a three-year contract worth $4-5 million per season but could certainly accept a little less to reunite with James and potentially win more NBA titles before retirement.

If not, Houston appears to be willing to let Parsons go…if it can get something in return; the team’s concern is Parsons eating up otherwise available 2015-16 cap space. Dallas general manager Donnie Nelson told reporters Thursday afternoon that the Mavericks and Rockets are engaged in sign-and-trade conversations, which explains why Dallas has not yet submitted Parsons’s offer sheet to Houston. In a sign-and-trade scenario, the Rockets would accept the terms of the deal and ship him out for compensation, likely players and draft picks. Once the Mavericks make that move, Houston will have 72 hours to either sign Parsons to the same deal or allow Dallas to sign him outright. Update: At approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday, the Mavericks sent the signed offer sheet to the Rockets, giving Houston until Sunday at 3 p.m. to match Dallas’s deal.

Former Florida Gators forward Chandler Parsons may be headed 240 miles north within the state of Texas if the Dallas Mavericks have their way after the team agreed to terms Wednesday afternoon on a three-year, $46 million offer sheet with the Houston Rockets‘ restricted free agent.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports and Marc Stein of ESPN.com both reported that Parsons has agreed to the terms of the offer sheet and will officially sign it first thing Thursday morning once the NBA allows free agents to ink new contracts. The Rockets will have three days to match the offer and bring Parsons back.

Wojnarowski further reports that Parsons ultimately decided to sign the deal after he and Houston “negotiated throughout the day but were unable to come to an agreement” on a new contract. Dallas’s offer sheet includes a player option for the third season as well as a 15 percent trade kicker should he be moved.

Update I: A source close to the situation told OnlyGators.com late Wednesday night that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is personally flying to Florida to have Parsons sign the offer sheet at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning.

The source also notes that Parsons has established a strong relationship with Cuban and prefers to play in Dallas over Houston next season.

Update II: Parsons officially signed the Mavericks’ offer sheet early Thursday. He is pictured below celebrating with Cuban in Florida after inking the three-year deal.

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